Spellbound
by ShinySheepGhost001
Summary: After the establishment of Agate Mountain University, one of the students goes missing. His last possession―a scroll written by an ancient SeaWing princess. As the rest of his winglet searches for him, an ancient SeaWing mystery resurfaces...in the most unexpected of places.
1. Prologue

Glaucus held the scroll Master Truthful gave him with great care. Such a precious scroll deserved the utmost respect. He sat down at a table in the back of the library and unfurled the scroll.

The ancient script made very little sense, though several words could be distinguished from the mess of strange letters and dead characters. At the top, though, Glaucus could make out what appeared to be a name.

Princess Seafoam of the SeaWings

Glaucus widened his eyes in awe. In his claws, he held the writings of his most favored author in all of history. He unraveled the scroll a little more. Among the archaic symbols were small drawings. Some were profiles of strange dragons from dreamt-up tribes, others were fantastic landscapes, and even more were fascinating items only a creative dragon would have the mind to craft.

As he scanned the scroll, Glaucus wondered what inspired Princess Seafoam to create such marvelous lands. At the bottom, there was a sketch of a lovely island with writing over it. The SeaWing eyed the words, making out a crude sentence he could still read. He muttered the words to himself.

 _Some island of…what is that?_

Glaucus studied some more, then felt a tug in his mind and body. It was at first tiny, able to be ignored. Then it became a pull. It yanked him, dragged him. It took over his mind.

And then he saw nothing.


	2. Chapter 1

**SUN**

"I'd like to thank everyone for contributing all you could to opening this wonderful expansion to Jade Mountain Academy!" Headmistress Sunny said over the crowd of two hundred or so dragons gathered for her speech. "I'd now like to officially open Agate Mountain University!"

The dragons roared with applause. Headmistress Sunny waited until they quieted down.

"For those of you not in the know, Agate Mountain University is a second school with the intent to teach dragons from ten to twenty years old additional subjects including diplomacy, trade, medicinery, and advanced combat training. These dragons can be new arrivals or old faces from Jade Mountain Academy, but they all have one thing in common; they all wish to see this beautiful continent of Pyrrhia flourish and thrive.

"For this reason, I will be stepping down from my role as headmistress for Jade Mountain Academy. I will be passing it along to my daughter, Beetle, and I will take up the mantle of being Agate Mountain University's headmistress.

"We've decided among ourselves who will best serve each school. For Jade Academy, our teachers will be Master Valor, Mistress Tsunami, Mistress Moonwatcher, Mistress Sunseeker, and Master Depths. For Agate University, our teachers will be Master Truthful, Master Archaeopteryx, Mistress Doe, Master Dragonfruit, and Mistress Crimson.

"As of the winglets, we will keep our normal seven-dragon structure, one from each tribe. However, we only have three winglets to start out with: the Agate Winglet, the Platinum Winglet, and the Jasper Winglet.

"To our twenty-one students: I, on behalf of all of the Agate Mountain University staff, thank you for choosing to come here and welcome you with open wings to our greatest accomplishment of the decade!"

Dragons roared their cheers and the very next week, Agate Mountain University began its school sessions.

* * *

 **FIRE**

"Welcome to Agate Mountain University!" Headmistress Sunny said with open wings to the gliding pair of siblings. "You must be the SkyWings Queen Daybreak sent, yes?"

The pale grayish-red female nodded. "Yes, we are. I'm Zephyr and this is my brother Sun."

Headmistress Sunny smiled and made a polite gesture to the two. "Glad to have you at Agate University, Zephyr and Sun of the SkyWings." She lead them to registration, peering at the sky as if expecting someone. "When will your third SkyWing come?"

"Princess Dawn's taking her sweet time," Sun said, gesturing northward. "I think it's because she doesn't want to be associated with us." He shrugged. "I don't necessarily blame her. I mean, who'd want to be friends with a firescales and fireless?"

The headmistress widened her eyes. "Firescales? How did you manage to survive with firescales?"

Sun shrugged. "Long story short, our mom thought we were cute when we hatched, so she kept us."

Zephyr shot him a glare. "No, you featherbrain." The pale red dragon gave an apologetic smile on the behalf of her brother, then explained. "Our mom saw our egg was large and wanted to keep us safe, so she hid us away and raised us in isolation."

The Night-SandWing reached the registration table and filed through some papers, finding two marked "Sun" and "Zephyr". "Sounds interesting, but I will have to sit down and listen to the full story another day." She held out the papers with the SkyWings' names. "Zephyr, would you mind writing some of this information down for your brother?"

Zephyr nodded and took the papers from the headmistress.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more students I have to meet." She gave a polite nod to the both of them. "I can't wait to get to know the both of you even more."

Standing up, Headmistress Sunny made her way to the landing point when a flight of IceWings made their descent. Sun picked up the cheery words, "Lady Lynx! What an honor!" coming from the headmistress, but he noticed the older IceWing addressed as such shake her head, politely rejecting the title. By Lynx's side were three IceWings a few years younger than Sun.

"I wonder who they are…" he thought out loud.

"Maybe we'll get to know them later." Zephyr straightened out the papers and eyed them a little closer. "So it looks like you're going to be a part of the Jasper Winglet and I'll be in the Platinum Winglet."

Sun peeked over his sister's shoulder and smiled. "Aw, look at that. You'll get a SeaWing as a clawmate." He examined the paper a little closer. "Delta. Hm. Interesting. Wonder why she was sent."

"Looks like you won't be getting a clawmate," the pale red SkyWing said. "Sorry about that."

The gold one shrugged. "It doesn't bother me. Let's go find our dorms."

They left down the dormitory halls as some MudWings made their arrival.

"Did you see if any other tribes are here yet?" Sun asked.

"So far the SeaWings, RainWings, and NightWings are the only ones here." Zephyr looked up and the gold SkyWing met where she stared.

Three caves branched off, each marked with a gemstone: one striped amber, one solid red, and the last shiny silvery-gold.

"I'm gonna go meet my new clawmate!" Zephyr fluttered her wings ever so slightly as she bounded off into the silvery-gold cave. "I'll see you, Sun!"

"Wait! How do you know…?"

She left without a word.

Sun looked up at the remaining two caves. He didn't quite know which one was jasper, except that it had a very warm color. A dull MudWing meandered to the dormitory caves, followed by two others.

"Hey, excuse me," Sun said, holding a front talon out to stop them. "I need some help here."

The lead MudWing looked up at him. "Firescales," he muttered under his breath, then said a little louder, "What do you need?"

"Which of these is jasper?"

The earthy brown one in the back looked up. "Oh, you're in my winglet! Hey, Bulrush, can I help him out?"

The dull brown MudWing nodded. "Sure. Go on ahead."

The earthy brown MudWing separated from the group and led Sun down the hall with the solid red gemstone. "I'm Mahogany, by the way. And you are?"

"Sun."

"Ooh! Nice name for a firescales!" Mahogany surveyed his new clawmate in the middle of the hall. "I've met Peril in Second Chances―it's pretty much where I've grown up―but her fire seems more deadly. You look more…I'm not sure if 'beautiful' is the right word, but that's what I'm feeling."

Sun arched his brows in surprise. He hadn't expected a compliment about his lethal scales. "You think so?"

Mahogany nodded, then looked up at the sleeping caves around them. There were four caves, each with three facets to place a gemstone at the top. The first cave had an opal and an amber placed over two facets, the second a turquoise and a smoky quartz, the third an onyx and a bismuth, and the last had a ruby taking a single facet.

"I remember Clay saying something about a new system implemented into the sleeping caves." Mahogany said. "Each gemstone correlates to a tribe. Yours is the ruby."

The firescales SkyWing observed the gems again. "Looks like you'll be with a SeaWing. The SeaWings have been here for a few hours, so I think your clawmate will be here already, if not at some other part of the mountain."

Mahogany perked up. "So it seems. I wonder what he's like." He gave a pointing nod to the door. "Wanna come?"

"Sure."

Then they walked in.

* * *

 **BLUE**

Prince Glaucus filed through some scrolls, wishing to find one made by one of his ancestors, Princess Seafoam. All he found were scrolls written by his great-grandmother and great-uncle. He wondered if Master Truthful, the NightWing librarian, had anything on Princess Seafoam.

Finding nothing, Glaucus slid into the small pool meant for him to sleep in. He unfurled his scroll with the winglets and found his name under the Jasper Winglet. The additional information just below the winglets showed who would be grouped with whom. Glaucus found he'd be placed with the MudWing in the group, Mahogany.

Looking further down, he found his brother, Maelstrom, placed in the Agate Winglet and his sister, Delta, in the remaining Platinum Winglet. Maelstrom was paired off with a RainWing prince, Queen Glory's grandson. The SeaWing prince read on, finding that Delta was given a fireless SkyWing as a clawmate. He smiled, hoping that his clutchmates were in good company, and waited for his new clawmate to visit him.

A few minutes later, two dragons stepped into the cave, an earthy brown MudWing and a radiant gold SkyWing.

"Hello, clawmate!" the MudWing greeted, smiling. He made a polite gesture. "The name's Mahogany! And you are?"

Glaucus blinked, a bit flustered. He returned the MudWing's gesture. "Glaucus."

The SkyWing tilted his head to the side. "Wait, aren't you SeaWing royalty?"

"Um…" The bright blue SeaWing sank a little into his pool, flashing a dim "yes" in Aquatic. "Yeah, I'm the queen's son."

"Ooh! Royalty roommates! That's a special occurrence!" the MudWing noted, a tinge of excitement in his voice.

"Wait, you're royalty, too?" the SkyWing asked.

Mahogany nodded. "More like nobility, but related to Queen Copperhead nonetheless. I'm her grandnephew."

Glaucus noted the gold SkyWing slowly nod to his statement.

"Why would you like to know about royalty?" the SeaWing prince inquired.

The SkyWing looked up at him. "Personal matters."

Glaucus nodded to him and allowed him to keep his privacy. "May I at least know your name?"

"Sun."

Before Glaucus could respond, a distant voice roared. From what he could tell, it sounded feminine. She sounded like she was in pain.

Mahogany's brows furrowed in worry. "Should we make sure nothing's wrong?"

Glaucus nodded and Sun said, "Yep," then the three took off to the source of the roar.

* * *

 **BLACK**

Eigengrau did what she could to stay away from other dragons, except her uncle, Master Truthful. The NightWing hid in the library in a place only the librarian could see and read a trashy romance scroll, a poor dragon's retelling of the Darkstalker legend. She suspected it was one of the late Queen Coral's first written works due to the atrocious plot and confusing prose.

"Grau, you need to get your nose out of those scrolls and go make friends." Master Truthful said, carrying a box filled with old scrolls.

She shook her head vigorously. "I can't, I need to learn everything I can about animus magic."

"Have you even cast a spell?"

Eigengrau shook her head again, this time more in embarrassment.

"So you're going to sit in the library with your… _studies_ …" Master Truthful cast a glance at the trashy scroll. "While dragons from other tribes become best friends and leave you out of their games?"

"Yes."

Master Truthful set the box down and heaved a heavy sigh. "Your loss. But while you're here, help me sort through these old scrolls."

Eigengrau raised a brow. "Where are they from?"

"Your father gave these to me a while ago, but I haven't had the time to read them since I've needed to set up for the university. Now that preparations are done, I can now read them!" He laid a talon on several fragile scrolls. "These are history scrolls from the Old Night Kingdom. I'm going to copy them and see if we can translate them into Modern Pyrrhian. NightWing writing hasn't changed as much as other tribes' writing, but it's still a little hard to read." He offered a scroll to Eigengrau.

She accepted the scroll and unfurled it, then narrowed her eyes to read it. "If I were to read this out loud, it would sound like Great-Uncle Clay eating that squishy fruit."

Master Truthful let out a laugh. "Well-put, Grau. Well-put."

The smaller NightWing rolled up both scrolls, leaving the romance scroll in her reading spot and bringing the ancient one with her. "Where do I put these?"

As soon as she said that, a NightWing peered into the library, although another look revealed it was actually a Night-RainWing. The dragon seemed vaguely familiar, though Eigengrau couldn't place why.

"Excuse me," the Night-RainWing said, nodding a little bow. "Are there any scrolls on the War of SandWing Succession?"

Master Truthful set down his scrolls and nodded. "Yes, yes, I'll help you find that." He stood up to assist her. "Princess Luster, yes?"

She nodded. "Granddaughter of Queen Glory."

"Which winglet are you in?" the NightWing librarian asked, filing through history scrolls.

"Uh… Let me check." Luster pulled out a small paper, read it, and said, "Jasper Winglet."

"Oh, my niece is in that winglet! In fact, she's right over here!"

Eigengrau sank into the nearest shadow she could hide in. She cursed her uncle in her mind, though worded it carefully to avoid casting a spell.

Too late. Luster met eyes with the small, scared NightWing and gave a semi-friendly smile. The Night-RainWing didn't return her politeness and turned back to Master Truthful.

"Yes, lovely NightWing. My scroll, Master Truthful?"

The NightWing librarian took out some scrolls out. "Here's a scroll on the internal politics of each kingdom, another scroll detailing strategies and commanders of each SandWing princess, a third on the Onyx Scandal, and this last one I find most interesting. It focuses on the Heroes of Destiny and how they each dealt with the prophecy." Master Truthful placed a talon on Luster's shoulder. "Your grandmother wrote part of this scroll."

Princess Luster widened her eyes at the drab leather scroll. "Can I have this one?"

Master Truthful smiled warmly and carefully handed over the scroll. "I'll write down you're the one who has it."

"Thank you, Master Truthful!"

"Ah! Before you go, I have one request, Princess."

The dark Night-RainWing turned back. "Yes?"

The NightWing librarian looked over at Eigengrau. "My niece hasn't yet gone to her dorm yet. Would you care to walk with her there?" As he spoke, he neared the younger NightWing. "You two may have some good conversations since your grandparents wrote and star in the autobiography."

Eigengrau shook her head. "I don't want to go," she muttered.

"This will be good for you, Grau." Master Truthful whispered back. "She's practically family. Go on! Make a friend and tell me how it goes tomorrow morning."

The younger NightWing furrowed her brows and slowly stood up. She rolled up her trashy romance scroll and tossed it in the trash pile, then picked up some other more important scrolls and joined Luster at the library entrance.

"Hello, I'm Eigengrau," she said, then briskly added, "But you can call me Grau!"

Princess Luster cast the NightWing a side-glance, then returned her gaze to the hall ahead.

Eigengrau cursed herself in her mind, hating the silence the Night-RainWing refused to fill. "It's on my dad's side that I'm related to Starflight. Which side are you related to? I mean, which of your parents is the dragonet of Queen Glor―"

The dark-scaled princess pinned the NightWing to the wall, snarling and bearing her fangs. Eigengrau struggled to push her off, but the Night-RainWing was fit and strong. She remained held and terrified until Luster relaxed to her regular face, bearing serpentine features from her grandmother's side of the family.

"Grandmother taught me the importance of honesty in diplomatic situations, _NightWing scum_ , so I'll be honest with you." Luster released the NightWing and waited until she regained her composure to elaborate. "I don't like you. You know why?"

Eigengrau shrugged. "I don't know; there are plenty of reasons dragons don't like me."

"Can you guess any sort of reason why _I_ don't like you in particular?"

"Um…" The NightWing's wings fidgeted. "I'm a recluse…? I don't like talking with other dragons…? I…um…" She hoped she wouldn't have to give away the secret only direct family knew about her.

Luster gave an exasperated sigh. "Well, with attributes like those, I'm not surprised you can't figure it out." She stared at the NightWing with dark gray-green eyes. "You're pretty. _Really_ pretty."

Eigengrau paused. "That's…rather shallow."

"I know it is, NightWing, but as shallow as it is, it's the truth. You have the beauty that dragons like me would kill for to have." The princess eyed the NightWing up and down. "Where are you from?"

"The Old Night Kingdom."

"Well, I'll teach you about something in the Night-Rain Village. As of now, hybrids between NightWings and RainWings are becoming an icon of beauty, so to speak. Specifically, female dragons are more attracted to Rain-NightWings, whereas male dragons are more attracted to Night-RainWings. Do you understand what I mean, NightWing? Tell me what the difference is between a Rain-NightWing and a Night-RainWing."

Eigengrau remembered a demographics scroll she read on the topic Luster spoke of. "Yes, Rain-NightWings are dragonets of RainWing fathers and NightWing mothers, having iridescent black scales and rainbow stars with a smaller stature than a typical NightWing. Night-RainWings are dragonets of NightWing fathers and RainWing mothers, having dark scales that can usually still change color and white stars on the frills and wing webbing. I read a scroll that if this continues and the hybrids keep breeding with other hybrids, then they could turn into a new tribe, especially since both tribes are the only ones to have a recessive gene carrying a trait that geneticists have speculated to grant―"

"Shut up! I don't need a biology lesson!" Luster roared, lashing out. With flexed talons, the Night-RainWing slashed Eigengrau's face.

A pain worse than fire or acid burned through her skin. The tiny scales that made up her face gave way to sharp claws. Eigengrau howled with pain, clutching her face.

"Forgive me," the princess said, not even a faint ghost of remorse on her serpentine face present. "It's a reflex. I'm afraid the claw paint makes it hurt more than a normal scratch does, but I forgot and my instincts took in."

"What's going on here?!" someone asked from down the hall.

With her blurry vision, Eigengrau noticed a SeaWing, a MudWing, and a radiant SkyWing nearing the two.

Luster sighed. "She won't die, just hurt really badly for the next few weeks or so."

"What happened?" the SeaWing asked, staring at the NightWing and her horrible wound.

"I snapped and scratched her while I had a special claw paint on." The Night-RainWing studied her claws, painted in a dark purple.

"What is this 'special claw paint'?" the MudWing inquired.

The princess shrugged. "Giant squid ink, blackberry juice, dark purple iris blooms, and dragonbite viper venom."

All the dragons tensed at the morbid last ingredient. Eigengrau gave a wail in horror as she realized the lethal venom and what it would probably do to her.

"Excuse me?" the SeaWing questioned.

"Three moons…" the MudWing muttered.

"Out of my way!" the SkyWing hissed. "I can help!" He tried to not touch anyone, including the perpetrator, while he made his way to Eigengrau's left. "Let go of your face."

"Sun, what are you doing?" the SeaWing asked, brows furrowed.

"Remember what happened at the end of the War of SandWing Succession? Peril had burned Clay to get the dragonbite venom out of his leg." Sun briskly tore Eigengrau's talon off her face and pressed his claws against the clawmarks. "Glaucus! Mahogany! Hold her down!"

The other two dragons met his sides, taking care to not touch the SkyWing. Luster stood by, eyeing the scene with a placid expression.

Despite knowing it was for her own good, Eigengrau fought against her helpers, flailing as much as she could. The fire blazed against her wound and the surrounding area, but thankfully, Sun burned the venom away.

The SkyWing backed off, studying her face to see if he got all the venom. "I think that's it."

The SeaWing glared at Luster. "Dragonbite venom?! Who makes claw paint with dragonbite venom?!"

Luster shrugged. "I made it myself. It's only made with a dewdrop's worth. Don't worry. The last dragon I scratched only got swelling in his face for a month and a half. He's fine, just with a scar from the venom."

"Why'd you make such a thing?" the MudWing asked, shuffling off Eigengrau. "You already have venom, don't you?"

"Well, that's one of the downfalls of being a hybrid. Even though I'm three-fourths RainWing, that's still too little RainWing to have venom." The Night-RainWing shrugged. "I'm rich enough I can afford some dragonbite venom, so I purchased some to make the claw paint."

"Why'd you scratch her?" Sun hissed, pointing to the little NightWing. "Why harm her?"

"It was an accident on my part, honestly. I got mad and scratched her face." She looked down to Eigengrau. "Forgive me, NightWing. I did not intend to cause unnecessary harm to you."

The five dragons remained silent for a while, then another dragon, an older female MudWing, neared them. "Someone said something happened up here!"

Princess Luster explained everything, taking full responsibility for causing the incident and accepting any form of discipline given to her. Mistress Doe gave her her first punishment: helping Eigengrau back to the medicine room.

"While I'm here, I'll have you all know that tonight at sunset the Jasper Winglet is going to meet up with Master Archaeopteryx in Darkstalker's Arena."

* * *

 **SNOW**

Mistral studied the scratches on the wall―the number of days the NightWing behemoth stayed awake within the mountain until his inevitable release.

"I wonder what happened to him…"

"My father told me what happened to Darkstalker," another dragon said from behind. "He was there. He took care of him once and for all."

Mistral turned around to find a pale yellow SandWing walking up to his side by the etched wall.

"It changed how I saw him―my father, that is." the SandWing said, his face furrowed with a mixed feeling Mistral couldn't identify. "My father told me not only of how Darkstalker was defeated, but all the other events leading up to that point." He looked over at the IceWing. "You're not to tell a soul, okay? If it were reach the wrong ears, something bad surely would happen."

"Why are you telling me, then?"

The SandWing smiled. "Because you seem like the kind of dragon I'd find trustworthy on instinct."

The silvery-white dragon sighed. "I hold other secrets."

"I once heard of an old SandWing tale of a lion who matched wits with the wisest SandWing queen and won. The first question asked by the queen was, 'What is the heaviest burden a dragon can carry?' The lion replied with, 'The secrets within his own soul.' I've heard a great philosopher once say that to share burdens with others is to lighten their weight." The SandWing looked over at Mistral. "My name is Mirage. And yours?"

"Mistral."

Mirage nodded in a greeting gesture. "Pleasure to meet you." He turned around and checked the entrance for any eavesdroppers, then returned to Mistral's side. "You go first. It measures as nothing to my secret."

The IceWing sighed. "I…I don't think my father is Lord North. You see, I come from a very high place in IceWing nobility. My supposed father is Queen Snowfall's brother and my mother is Lady Lynx, an esteemed nobledragon. I have two other siblings from an older clutch, but I think my mother slept with another dragon to have me. I look and act nothing like my siblings and I always have this nagging feeling that North isn't my father. If so, only Mother knows of it and she refuses to tell me."

"Who do you think your father is?"

"I have a few theories," Mistral admitted. "One includes a friendly commoner, another is a runaway prince, and the last is a supportive soldier."

Mirage placed a wing around his new companion. "I hope you find your dad."

Mistral over at Mirage. "Thank you. What's your secret?"

The SandWing paused for so long, the IceWing thought he didn't hear him. Finally, Mirage said, "Animus magic is a dangerous power. It can do anything the dragon thinks of." He looked at him with a cold look in his black eyes. "Dragons don't think good things."

Mistral shuddered, remembering some of his ill feelings of other dragons.

Mirage continued. "Long ago, Darkstalker abused his magic to manipulate the wills of dragons he loved, including his fiancée and best friend. He eventually used it against his father―I believe you've heard the legend."

Mistral nodded. "Go on."

"Well, back when my father was young, he and his friends saw other dragons do the same thing as Darkstalker; use animus magic to strip dragons of their free will. It happened with my father's best friend's brother, it happened to an ally, it even happened to himself. Every time a dragon lost their free will to an abuse of magic, my father and his friends believed it to be wrong…"

The pause was so long and silent, the IceWing heard the sound of his own heart beating. "And?"

The SandWing sighed. "They did the same thing. My father and three others did the very thing they condemned to accomplish their needs. They changed Darkstalker's identity to a new persona, gave him new memories and everything _all against Darkstalker's will_. My father insisted it was the only way to deal with him, but I could never come to tell him I disagreed with him and his choices. My father…essentially killed a dragon. From the account I heard of a friend of his, it seemed like Darkstalker was softening up for such a change himself, willingly, by his own fruition. They changed someone against his will who was at the brink of accepting that change for himself just because they found it more convenient… That was the very same thing that Darkstalker did, the very same reasoning that made him such a threat to begin with… And I find that sick."

Mistral finally released the pent-up breath he didn't realize he held. "Wow…" he said at last. "That's…heavy."

Mirage nodded. "I don't know how to confront my father on such an action. He did something awful that he finds good and…" He wiped his eyes dry of tears that weren't there. "I want to tell him."

The IceWing lingered for a moment. "Do you know who Darkstalker is now?"

The desert dragon shook his head. "No. That was the only part he didn't tell me." He sighed. "Thanks for hearing me out."

"Yeah, likewise."

Mirage looked over at the entrance. "Wonder what's taking them so long."

"Because your female clawmates got into a catfight and one had to be treated by Doe." Master Archaeopteryx grumbled as he made his way into the room. He had four other dragons trailing behind him, one from each tribe with the exception of NightWing. "Either way, the NightWing will be here in a few moments. She just needs a last examination and she's good to come here." The Mud-SkyWing laid down at the highest sheet of rock in the room. "All right, who wants to play a game Mother taught me when I was a little dragonet?"

* * *

 **SHINE**

"I hate this game," Princess Luster growled as she rubbed a sore spot from where Mirage flung a rather heavy rock at her.

"So do I!" Mistress Doe hissed as she came into Darkstalker's Arena with a bandaged Eigengrau under her wing. "Archaeopteryx! You've already had some dragonets throw sharp or heavy rocks at each other, but this?! Nobledragons and those with destructive powers! How is Headmistress Sunny going to explain to all the queens that you've allowed over a hundred dragons to throw rocks with intent to damage as a way to _have fun_?!"

Master Archaeopteryx chuckled. "She already did with that SeaWing dragonet."

"HE HAD HEMOPHILIA!"

"Hush, dragon, I'm trying to start a class now. I've got my seventh member."

Mistress Doe glared at the Mud-SkyWing, but rolled her eyes and left. She turned to the little NightWing by her side. "Darling, if you have anything that starts hurting―especially from _this dragon_ ―let me know."

Eigengrau nodded as she took her spot. Luster noticed the NightWing sat on the other side of the room from her and in a spot devoid of flung rocks.

"All right!" Master Archaeopteryx said, clapping his talons together. "Let's meet our winglet! First of all, I am Master Archaeopteryx, overseer of the Jasper Winglet. Basically, if you have a problem with the winglet, take it up with me. Let's introduce ourselves. Tell us your name, why you came here, and anything interesting about yourself." He looked to his right. "Sun! Let's start with you!"

The overheating SkyWing looked perplexed for a moment, then hastily said as prompted, "I'm Sun, I came here because my queen had no idea what to do with me, and I have firescales." The firescales dragon looked down at his claws with fiery blue eyes.

The MudWing sitting beside him smiled. "I'm Mahogany! My mom thought this would be the opportunity of a lifetime, so she sent me and my brother and sister here." He paused a little before adding, "I also like pears."

"Um…" Eigengrau muttered, all eyes on her bandaged face. "I'm Eigengrau, my dad thought it'd be a good idea to send me…and…I don't like how everyone's staring at me."

The next dragon shifted awkwardly. "Well, my name is Prince Glaucus and I heard about the new university and wanted to come. I like scrolls."

"I'm Mirage, I wanted to learn more about diplomacy, and I like reading fairy tales and legends." The SandWing kept trying not to look at Eigengrau, but kept failing.

The IceWing said his share before Luster. "My name is Mistral. I came here for the educational benefits I also received when I was a dragonet and I just so happened to be in the first IceWing lineup. I think the game Master Archaeopteryx made us play was a risk to all of our lives and he should feel ashamed of himself for suggesting it."

Master Archaeopteryx let out a burst of laughter along with a few other dragons. The only ones not laughing were Eigengrau, though she had a faint smile, Sun, and lastly Luster.

"Okay, your turn," the Mud-SkyWing said, still laughing.

Luster lifted her chin and held her wings back in a regal poise. "I am Princess Luster. I am here because my brother forced me to and that SandWing likely has a crush on the NightWing because he keeps looking at her with a face that the rest of you don't have."

Mirage's ears turned the slightest shade of red as he averted his gaze from Eigengrau's.

"Also, that SeaWing's really gorgeous. I want him to sweep me off my feet and fly me into the sunset."

Glaucus's face turned a bright red as dragons looked around in confusion as to why dragons were getting attracted to each other so soon after meeting.

 _Such a peculiar thing,_ Luster thought. _A peculiar thing it is._

After the introductory class left to their respective dorms, Luster found herself sitting in the same room as the scarred black dragon.

"Forgive me, NightWing," she apologized, her voice soft.

Eigengrau didn't respond.

"To be frank, I'm jealous of your beauty. You would attract so many dragons in the Night-Rain Village while I fall just short of meeting the beauty standard."

The NightWing's ears perked up.

"That's why I envy you. Forgive me for acting petty."

She responded with a fidget to get more comfortable in her wild-growth bed.

Luster didn't say anything else as her mind slowly dragged her to sleep.

* * *

 **NIGHT**

The bright blue SeaWing shuffled into the Agate Mountain Library, seemingly to want a late night read.

"Prince Glaucus, what are you doing up so late?"

The SeaWing turned to find an old NightWing behind the librarian's desk. The dark purple dragon seemed to blend into the sharp shadows created by the firelight.

"Master Truthful," Glaucus said, flustered. "I couldn't sleep. I just wanted something to read if that was okay with you."

The NightWing smiled. "That's completely okay with me. If you'd like, I have some recent scrolls that Mother and Father sent from the Old Night Kingdom." He ducked under the desk and pulled out a box filled with ancient scrolls. "Some of them are so old, reading them is practically another language. If you'd like to read them, you can."

Glaucus widened his eyes, gliding his clawtips against the edges of the scrolls. One with an ancient SeaWing sigil caught his attention. "What's this one?" he asked, pulling it out from the box.

"That one, oh yes! My cousin brought that one from the Kingdom of the Sea. Apparently this old relic is behind some ancient SeaWing mystery." Master Truthful picked it up and eyed its text. "Yeah, this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever."

"How old is it?" Glaucus asked.

"Oh, over a thousand years, no doubt. Let me see my records…" Master Truthful came out from his desk and fingered through some history scrolls. "Ah! Yes! This scroll was written somewhere around 3680 to 3690 After Scorching by Princess Seafoam."

"Princess Seafoam! That's my favorite author in the history of Pyrrhia!"

Master Truthful looked at the young prince. "Would you like to read this scroll?"

Glaucus nodded. "Yes, sir! I very much would!"

"Then it's yours." The NightWing carefully handed the scroll over with a warm smile. "Who knows? Maybe you'll discover the mystery."

"That'll never happen," the SeaWing prince said sheepishly. "I mean, I love mysteries as much as the next dragon, but I can never figure out the solution before the detective can."

"You're a clever dragon, Prince Glaucus. I think you'll figure that out." Master Truthful smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "Go enjoy yourself."

Glaucus nodded and scampered to the back of the library where he read in peace.

The NightWing librarian resumed to his work, picking out a scroll from his box and reading through it. He occasionally made notes on a separate scroll as he read.

Hours later, a pale yellow SandWing peeked into the library. "Master Truthful? Have you seen Glaucus?"

Master Truthful looked up from his work and realized it was morning. He slowly nodded. "Yes, although that was hours ago. Did he return to his quarters?"

The SandWing shook his head. "No, he's gone. Mahogany woke up not too long ago asking us where he was and we can't find him, so we thought we'd check here."

Master Truthful realized he was talking to the Jasper Winglet's SandWing, Mirage. "He may have fallen asleep on the other side of the library."

Mirage nodded. "Thanks." He followed the direction the NightWing had pointed him to and soon disappeared within the shelves of scrolls. "Hey, Glaucus, everyone's waiting for you in the…mess…hall… Glaucus? Glaucus?!"

Master Truthful sat up at the SandWing's words. He abandoned his work and rushed to the back of the library.

"Master Truthful, where's Glaucus?!" Mirage gave the librarian a worried look.

The NightWing found the ancient SeaWing scroll and picked it up. "I…I don't understand. Why would he leave the scroll here?"

"Master Truthful, _what happened to him_?"

"I don't know…" Master Truthful unfurled the scroll. "But I think this has something to do with that ancient SeaWing mystery."

* * *

 **Special thanks to my betas, The Black-Hearted Angel, Queen of the Pears, and Nightflare Shine. They smoothed over some minor flaws in the story. Thanks, guys!**

 **Here are the characters featured in this chapter in order of appearance.  
**

 **Prince Glaucus - bright blue SeaWing prince; son of Queen Drift; Jasper Winglet; named after the Glaucus atlanticus, also known as the blue dragon sea slug or the blue angel sea slug.**

 **Sun - golden-orange firescales SkyWing; brother to Zephyr; Jasper Winglet; named after the giant star that keeps their planet warm.**

 **Zephyr - pale red-gray fireless SkyWing; sister to Sun; Platinum Winglet; named after a tiny breeze.**

 **Prince Mahogany - earthy brown MudWing; nephew of Queen Copperhead; Jasper Winglet; named after a fine wood.**

 **Eigengrau - dark gray, almost black NightWing; niece of Master Truthful; Jasper Winglet; named after the color of total darkness.**

 **Master Truthful - dark purplish-gray NightWing; history teacher and librarian; uncle of Eigengrau and son of Starflight; named after honesty.**

 **Princess Luster - dark purple Night-RainWing; granddaughter of Queen Glory; Jasper Winglet; named after something that shines.**

 **Mistress Doe - woody brown MudWing; medicine teacher; named after a female deer.**

 **Prince Mistral - silvery-white IceWing; searching for Father; Jasper Winglet; named after a cold wind.**

 **Mirage - pale yellow SandWing; son of Qibli and Ostrich; Jasper Winglet; named after a desert illusion.**

 **Master Archaeopteryx - warm reddish-brown Mud-SkyWing; combat teacher and war strategist; adopted son of Clay and Peril; named after a bird-dinosaur-thing.**

 **I hope you liked the first chapter of _Spellbound_! Any predictions as to what happened to Glaucus? Any guesses to Mistral's parentage? Any other random theories? I'd like to know your thoughts!**

 **~Shiny**


	3. Chapter 2

**BLUE**

Glaucus stirred to consciousness, his body sore and mind pounding. He groaned, clutching his head with a talon.

 _Where did I fall asleep at?_ He remembered Agate Mountain, but then he remembered not actually falling asleep. He remembered going to the library, talking with Master Truthful, and reading the scroll.

 _The scroll…_ His last memory was reading the words on the scroll. Everything became fuzzy after that.

Glaucus opened his eyes to find himself at a beach. There was nothing to see other than the great blue below and the great blue above.

 _What happened? Am I dreaming?_

"Must've fallen asleep reading it," he muttered to himself. He caught his thoughts. "Wait… I'm not a lucid dreamer." The SeaWing's mind went to the implausible theories as to where he was. He sat up and turned around, finding himself on the shore of a tiny island.

The island was big enough for forty dragons to stand on with slightly outspread wings. It was wooded in one part and almost barren in another. There were some structures reminiscent of the architecture style of the Era of Rising Animi, using rock to craft a building and hide it with overgrowth. By the structures was a gazebo and garden with a statue of a dragon, though Glaucus couldn't tell what it was. At one end of the island was a humble mountain with an observatory built into it.

Glaucus's curiosity took over him.

The SeaWing followed the short road to the arrangement of buildings. As he studied them, only one turned out to be a dorm. It held three hammocks, akin to what the RainWings built to sleep in. He decided not to test them out, opting to explore more. Another building was a library.

The bright blue dragon edged in, looking around for anything or anyone. The library was fairly small, only having a few hundred scrolls. In the back was a seating area for three dragons at most and a table in the center of the room.

Glaucus took note of six scrolls laid on top of the table. He gingerly picked one up and unfurled it. Again, Glaucus couldn't understand the words much, but the title he could understand.

 _"World of Ocyan."_

He eyed the other scrolls, all having "World of" in their titles. Returning to the scroll he picked, Glaucus stepped back to the sitting area and laid down.

He relaxed and read the scroll, surprised that the first sentence he could understand perfectly in the refined claw-writing he saw on the scroll Master Truthful gave him.

 _I gave Seafoam her two hundred and forty-eighth birthday gift._

Glaucus paused. "The dragon writing the stories wasn't Seafoam?" he muttered. "And how did she live for over two hundred years? Why is the writer casually referring to her?" He continued reading, mumbling, "This doesn't make any sense."

 _… I call Ocyan. It … ancient SeaWing meaning … "dark waters". I … prompting … explore Bottomless Canyon …. She … love it._

 _I … opportunity … inhabitants …. She write … on separate scroll (3-7-11) and I … crafting … first creatures … in world._

 _Jellysquid first, … light dark world. She come loving one seven …, the smallest. Called it Squish. … creatures … ecosystem, favored … lighting jellysquid. Seafoam choice not … inhabitants later time, … busy …Wings … fatherland._

Glaucus reread the passage over and over, hoping to understand what the writer intended. He couldn't.

"What are these numbers here for?" the SeaWing muttered to himself. He peered around the library until he realized each bookcase had a number, as did each shelf and slot for scrolls.

He referenced the scroll. "Shelf three…" He found it imbued into the wall. "Row seven…" The shelf just below his neck if he stood on his hindlegs. "Slot eleven…" Glaucus pulled out a dark greenish-blue scroll case.

He opened the case, unfurled the scroll, then found drawings of what the prince assumed were sea creatures. But they looked like nothing he had ever seen before. He paced back to the seating area, but tripped on the rugs draped on the floor and heard metal scrape stone.

Glaucus looked down, finding at his feet something poking out from under the rug. Picking it up, he realized it was a key. But that only raised another question.

"Where does this go to?"

Glaucus swept through the room, trying to find the place where the key went to. He searched in nooks and niches, even finding a false shelf hiding a tunnel that led to the observatory, but he found nothing.

Then, he heard a voice.

Glaucus turned to the door to the rest of the island. Not just one voice, but several. They shouted in a strange tongue.

Glaucus hid.

He dashed to a false shelf he'd found and slipped inside, clutching the key in his talon. As he escaped down the hall, he heard the false shelf open far behind him. The SeaWing sped up, reaching the observatory and hiding behind stellar maps and large crates full of some glowing essence. Only then did he notice that the observatory was still open, but with his pursuers coming, he dared not to fly and escape.

His only choice was to hide.

Quickened talonsteps neared the observatory; claws scraped metal, or was that rock scraping metal? Draconic growls uttered strange words. They grew louder… Louder. Closer. Louder. Closer. Louder. Are they here yet? Closer. Louder. Hot sweat slid down his neck. What were these beasts? Closer. Louder. Closer. Louder. Why wasn't he dead yet?

Closer.

Louder.

Closer!

Louder!

Closer!

Louder!

Here!

"KRAA!" a voice sounding like metal claws on glass rang through the observatory, echoing between its tight walls.

Glaucus clamped his jaws shut and bit his tongue to silence himself from screaming. He tasted blood.

The room remained silent.

Glaucus dared not move.

One of the voices made a sound akin to dragon scoffing, then grumbled to his comrade in a strange language.

The sound of moving metal armor and talons clicking the stone floor indicated movement. Glaucus cautiously peeked out of his hiding place, taking great care not to have himself be heard. He peeked between some crates and found five dragons searching the room.

They all seemed…shiny, completely reflective with a few having harsh scrapes to mar their metallic scales. The largest, a glossy black male, eyed only from a distance while the others, more silver than their leader, searched the observatory. Their horns, not only a head horn, but also a set of horns on the jaw, were straight and translucent. Most had broken horns, while the leader had complete pristine horns.

Glaucus noticed they had sharp points on the end of their tails, eerily shimmering in the light. Their wings resembled that of bird feathers at the part where the fingers would've been. Five razor-sharp blades were at the end.

Glaucus shivered imagining being sliced by their wings or stabbed by their tails.

One of the silver ones on the opposite side of the room said something to the black one. The black dragon hissed, the sound seeming like glass scraping rocks. He then looked toward the glowing crates. Glaucus slid back into his hiding spot, clutching his key.

The sound of heavy talonsteps nearing his hiding spot made his scales crawl. The black dragon growled in a contemplative manner. Glaucus held his breath.

A new voice spoke up, this one softer than the harsh sounds of the metal dragons. She spoke with a familiar flowiness to her voice, though Glaucus couldn't place what she was.

The black dragon responded to her comment, but she spoke over him in a soothing voice. Glaucus recognized a few words in Pyrrhian, but only fragments and small words. After a while, nothing was said and he moved away from the hiding spot.

Glaucus dared to peek through again to see who this newcomer was and widened his eyes in surprise.

She looked like a SeaWing, though more long and narrow. She had a long, streamlined head for swimming with ease. A body stocky enough for swimming in the water with grace doubled as an elegant body for walking on land with equal grace. Her long, narrow wings evoked the appearance of an albatross. Her scales were pale blue, even paler than most SeaWings' scales. Her luminescent scales weren't just glowing like a typical SeaWing glow, but had a splash of color within them.

Not only did she have very strange scales and stature, but she also wore regalia, even more lavish than the most vain of the queens in Pyrrhia. Adorned about her body were diamonds and pearls strung around her horns, her wings, her neck, everywhere.

A wild theory popped into Glaucus's head. _Is that Princess Seafoam?_

The strange SeaWing said something to the rest of the dragons, then the six dragons left.

When he could no longer hear their voices for a long while, Glaucus finally sighed.

"What happened to me?"

* * *

 **WIND**

In the Agate University mess hall, Zephyr chatted with her new friend and clawmate, a SeaWing princess named Drift.

"So you can't make any fire whatsoever?" the pale blue SeaWing asked, stabbing a fish from the food pond to eat.

Zephyr shook her head. "Nope. Tried all my life. It just makes my throat all scratchy and icky."

"That's interesting," Delta said, tilting her head. "Is that why you're so much more discolored than the other SkyWings?"

The fireless dragon shrugged. "Maybe. Who knows?"

"Zephyr!" a familiar voice called from the other side of the prey center. Zephyr looked up to find her brother weaving through the dragons in the crowd, avoiding other dragons with as much care as he could probably muster. It didn't prevent a NightWing hissing as his wingtips brushed against him or a SandWing roaring because her tail was accidentally stepped on and burned.

When Sun made it to Zephyr and Delta's spot, he stared at his little sister with scared blue eyes. "Zephyr, one of our clawmates went missing. The SeaWing."

"Glaucus?" Delta said, her brows furrowed in worry.

"Yeah, that was his name. He's gone. Master Truthful thinks he was kidnapped or something. The Jasper Winglet's cancelling its afternoon and evening classes to search for him."

Delta stood up. "Where was he last seen?"

"Um… The library, I think? I don't know, the SandWing told everyone except me, since I was asleep, and the MudWing spat everything out all at once, so I didn't catch much of it."

The pale blue SeaWing stood up and dashed away, leaving the SkyWings behind. Zephyr followed her, with Sun just on her tail.

"Wait, why do you care?" Sun called to Delta.

"He's my little brother! As silly and awkward he is, I'm not having him disappear on night one!"

The three dragons made their way to the library, finding a very distressed Master Truthful talking with Master Archaeopteryx and Headmistress Sunny with a dark blue SeaWing, a SandWing, and two Night-RainWings, one male and one female, standing around.

"―was awake all night last night! I would've heard him!" The NightWing librarian placed his talons on his head. "Three moons, why did this happen to me? What's happened to that poor SeaWing?"

"Shh… It's not your fault, Truthful," Headmistress Sunny said, wrapping a wing around him. "Luster, would you please escort Master Truthful to the prey center and get him two sheep?"

"Yes, Headmistress." The female Night-RainWing slipped under Master Truthful's wing and led him out of the library.

The two Agate University staff members turned to the SandWing. "Mirage, can you take us to the place where he was last seen?"

"Yes, Headmistress," the SandWing said, standing up and leading the two dragons to the back of the room.

Delta ran up to the dark blue SeaWing. "Maelstrom, what happened to Glaucus?!"

"I don't know," he replied. "Luster told me and Charming that he'd gone missing, so we checked here. All that's left is the scroll he was looking at. Come on, I'll show you the spot."

The students all shuffled to the back of the library to a seating area with a scroll left open on the table. Every pillow was somewhat neat, only seeming to have been sat in and nothing else.

"No sign of struggle…" Delta muttered.

"Exactly why everyone's going nuts," the Night-RainWing spoke up. "No signs of struggle, no escape routes, _absolutely nothing_ to go off of. It's like he just _vanished_!"

Maelstrom looked over at Delta. "This is my friend Charming, by the way. Who are your little SkyWing friends here?"

Sun shot Maelstrom a hawk's glare. "I'm bigger than you."

"It's a figure of speech, firescales," the dark blue SeaWing said, giving a not-quite-apologetic smile.

"Either way, this is my new friend Zephyr and her older brother Firebutt," Delta hissed. "Can I see that scroll?"

" _No_ ," Headmistress Sunny said with a stern face. "No one's touching that until I give them permission to. As of now, that stays until the Jasper Winglet are dismissed from their morning class."

Delta growled. "But he's my brother! I should at least be able to help them out! Can't I at least help them figure out _what_ he was reading and _why_ he was reading it?"

"You heard her, Delta," Master Archaeopteryx affirmed. "Now you'd better go to your winglet's class. All of you."

The pale blue dragon gave a huff in annoyance, turning away and walking off. "Come on, Zephyr, let's get to class."

Zephyr frowned in pity of her friend. "All right." She turned back to her brother. "Find him for her, will you?"

Sun nodded. That was all she needed.

He could do it.

He'd finally make himself useful.

Just as she'd hoped for him to feel.

* * *

 **HEAT**

"All right, so from what Master Truthful said, Glaucus wanted a late night read and came here to get it. He picked a scroll that was one of Princess Seafoam's last documents before her disappearance and went off to read it. Delta and Maelstrom said that was normal since he's obsessed with her writing. Then he vanished without a trace. Is everyone here caught up?" Mirage asked the other five dragons in his winglet and his teacher.

Eigengrau, whose scratch wound had miraculously healed overnight, to Mirage's observation, spoke up. "Master Archaeopteryx, the scroll's magical."

The Mud-SkyWing gave the little NightWing a surprised look. "What makes you think that?"

"It's, uh…just a hunch…"

"What's even on the scroll?" Sun neared Master Archaeopteryx's side with an inquisitive stare at the parchment.

"Delta and Maelstrom said it's a short story about a tiny island with brand-new tribes." Mirage said. "So these doodles and sketches have to do with that."

"Can anyone actually read the scroll?" Luster inquired. "Wouldn't that clear up everything?"

Eigengrau spoke up again. "I can read a little of Middle SeaWing Pyrrhian…"

All eyes turned to her.

"But it's very crude and not that great…"

Master Archaeopteryx gave a chuckle. "Heh, knowing a little helps that much more." He tossed her the scroll, to which she caught in her claws.

The little NightWing looked over the writing, squinting. After an awkward pause, she looked up at the rest. "I'm not going to read it out loud until there's something I'm confident in."

Mistral and Mirage flanked her on each side, peering over her shoulders. "What about that label right there?" Mistral pointed to a drawing of a tiny island. "What does that say?"

Eigengrau stared at the lines, forming the words with her mouth. After a while, she said aloud, " _The Island of…Froth_."

As soon as she said the last word, she blinked as if someone threw a pebble at her face.

"Grau, are you all right?" Mistral asked.

"I…I think I need to lie down…" Eigengrau took the IceWing's outstretched talon and settled on the floor.

"What's wrong, Grau?" Mahogany questioned. "Do you need something?"

"I'm fine, I just…" The NightWing placed a talon to her head, wincing. "I just need to lie down…"

Master Archaeopteryx looked at the scroll. "Why don't we have an animus-touched object that detects spells on stuff? This would make everything easier…"

"GRAU, WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Mirage pointed to the NightWing's fading form, barely showing the bare rock she laid over. Eigengrau didn't say anything, just slept.

Soon, she was gone completely.

Everyone stared at the empty space where their NightWing was moments ago and at the scroll that caused the disappearance of now two members.

"It was the scroll…" Mirage muttered. He reached out to grab it from their teacher's grasp. "I'm going in there!"

"Absolutely not!"

The SandWing growled. "What if they have no way out? What do we do? Abandon them when they could need help getting out?" He took one end of the scroll. "Island of Froth."

As soon as Mirage said that, he felt a tug in his mind. He felt light-headed and his body heavy.

Master Archaeopteryx yelled at him for defying him. Mistral watched in wide-eyed surprise. Mahogany shuffled back in fright. Luster's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Sun pulled back, his ears pinned back.

Mirage fell to the ground, no one having offered him a moment to lie down. He closed his eyes as the world faded into nothingness.

* * *

 **BLUE**

Glaucus slipped out of his hiding spot, clutching the key in his talon. Through the observatory, he heard the dragons hadn't fully left, so he opted to remain discreet.

As he thought over his next course of action, his eyes fell upon a long telescope with a keyhole in it. He looked at his key, then sauntered over to the telescope. "Here goes nothing…"

The SeaWing slipped the key into the lock, keeping his ears alert for any other dragons. After some finagling with the key, a small door on the telescope opened and a scroll fell out. Unfortunately, the case was made of glass, which shattered upon hitting the ground.

Glaucus winced at the loud sound. He recovered the scroll and any major pieces he could salvage, nicking his talons on the tinier shards of glass.

He found another hiding spot behind some stellar maps, finding they hid a nook to tuck away in. After settling in, Glaucus set aside the glass shards and unfurled the scroll.

He studied its words and muttered what he could to himself. "'I…release…the dragon…this scroll confines…'"

The scroll trembled in his talons, a dark blue smoke rolling out of the sides. Glaucus dropped the scroll and scrambled back, watching as the smoke gathered into a large figure in front of him. The figure began to look more draconic, then solidified.

It was a SeaWing.

Nothing more.

The dragon gasped for air as the smoke gave way to vibrant dark blue scales, then fell to his side, passed out.

 _Three moons, what did I do?_ Glaucus inspected the dark blue dragon, then noticed something on his wings. _Royal spirals… Who is this dragon?_

The SeaWing stirred, growling. Glaucus backed off. The SeaWing then bolted up and made a cry as if he remembered something, then turned around, noticing Glaucus.

"SeeWinge!" he barked, widening his eyes. He said something that sounded vaguely similar to Pyrrhian, but some random words seemed to be thrown in here and there.

"What?" Glaucus tilted his head to one side, hoping that still meant, "I don't understand."

The SeaWing blinked in surprise, then snapped a claw, bringing a strange fruit into his talon. "Et."

Glaucus hesitated, then took the fruit from the SeaWing's talons. Inspecting it, he realized it looked like a purple dragon's tongue, but it didn't feel like one. It was merely a fruit that looked like a dragon's tongue. Cautiously, he took a bite and swallowed.

The SeaWing began talking again, his words still half-intelligible.

"I don't…"

"―when you can understand me completely. Can you understand me? SeaWing, am I making sense to you now?"

Glaucus widened his eyes. "I…"

"Can you understand me, SeaWing?" the dark blue dragon asked.

The bright blue one nodded.

"Good," the larger said, taking the fruit and eating the rest of it. "This is a tonguefruit. Eating it makes you understand any draconic language you hear and read in your native language and dialect." He swallowed, then added, "May I know the name of my rescuer?"

"Glaucus."

The SeaWing gave a nod. "Thank you, Glaucus. I am Prince Cobalt, brother to Princess Seafoam."

"Wait, _the Princess Seafoam_?"

"Yes, Now, let's fly. We're not safe here."

* * *

 **BLACK**

Eigengrau's eyes snapped open as she felt a chillingly sharp edge poke her rib. She found herself face-to-face with a shiny silver dragon with amber eyes. Eigengrau screamed and pushed the face away from her while scrambling away.

She then realized other dragons were around her, all shiny like the one who gawked at her. Two of the dragons pinned her back, one bringing a blade from his wing to her exposed neck. The one threatening her asked an odd SeaWing-like dragon adorned in diamonds and pearls something. The SeaWing turned to another one of the shiny dragons, a strange black one, and indicated a fruiting tree. The shiny black dragon picked one of the fruits and neared Eigengrau.

The NightWing struggled against her captors as the other dragon holding her pulled her jaws apart. The shiny black dragon placed the fruit in her mouth, then the other dragon forced her mouth closed, making her swallow.

The dragons let her go, making her fall to the ground. Eigengrau coughed at the fruit crawling down her throat, but couldn't hack it up.

The shiny dragons backed off to let the odd SeaWing near the NightWing. The SeaWing took Eigengrau's chin and lifted her gaze to her cyan eyes. She said something, but kept talking.

After a while, Eigengrau understood.

"Has the fruit worked now, dragonet?"

Eigengrau widened her eyes. "Who…? What…?"

"Shh, it's all right, dragonet," the SeaWing said, stroking the NightWing's head with a delicate talon. "Those fruits are called tonguefruit. I made them that when they are consumed, they enable the consumer to understand other languages perfectly."

Eigengrau eyed the other dragons, then looked to the strange SeaWing. "Who are you?"

"I am the Author. I wrote into existence the land you stand on, the sky you see, and the beauty you feel with all your senses."

As Eigengrau prepared to ask another question, the Author answered it.

"These are some of the residents of the worlds I oversee. They are called SteelWings. These are Chromium, Palladium, Niobium, Hafnium―" she indicated the final black dragon "― and General Rhenium." The Author lifted the NightWing's face with a talon. "You are?"

She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Eigengrau."

The SteelWings around Eigengrau abruptly turned to something behind her. "There's another dragon!" one of them shouted.

Eigengrau looked behind her, finding a familiar SandWing lying on the ground behind her. "Mirage?"

"You know him?" one of the silver SteelWings asked.

The NightWing shielded him from the other dragons with her wings. "Yes, he's…a friend."

General Rhenium turned to the Author. "What are they, Great Illuminator? What kind of dragons are they?"

"Eigengrau is a NightWing and Mirage is a SandWing," the Author answered.

"Where are they from, Great Illuminator? Are they from a manuscript?"

The Author shook her head. "No, just from some scraps of ideas."

 _What are they talking about?_ Eigengrau wondered.

Mirage groaned, his brows furrowing as he regained consciousness. "Hngh… Ow…"

"What are you doing here?"

The SandWing looked up at her with dazed dark brown eyes. "Who in the Hellish Desert…? Oh… Eigengrau…" He stood up, making a few of the SteelWings point their tails in his direction in wariness. "Who are they?"

Eigengrau shook her head. "Not important right now. Mirage, what are you doing here?"

Mirage looked off into the distance for a moment. "I…came here to get you back. You disappeared after you laid down from reading the scroll."

The Author neared the two. "I have a place much more comfortable for talking. Would you like to come with me?"

"Grau, what is she saying?" Mirage asked.

"Um, yes, thank you, Author," Eigengrau said, ignoring him.

The SteelWings chuckled, but one of the silver ones made a small gasp and put a talon over her mouth in shock.

"Can you understand what they're saying?"

"Not now, Mirage," the NightWing muttered. "What's so funny?"

"You address the Author as 'Great Illuminator', Eigengrau the NightWing," the black SteelWing―Rhenium, if she remembered properly―said. "Should I get him a tonguefruit?"

"Yes, please." She turned back to Mirage and explained to him the fruit's purpose as the eight dragons headed to one of the buildings on the island. "We're going with this dragon―the Author."

Mirage ate the fruit, but glared at the Author. He leaned into Eigengrau's ear. "Isn't it strange she looks kind of like a SeaWing?"

"Yeah. I'm thinking she's Princess Seafoam," the NightWing whispered back.

"Likewise."

They entered the largest of the buildings which revealed a library. In the center of it was a pedestal with six scrolls, though one looked recently disturbed. The Author beckoned Rhenium closer and whispered something in his ear, although Eigengrau couldn't catch what either said.

After their exchange, the Author turned to one of the others. "Niobium, fetch the Mira mud."

"Yes, Great Illuminator," the SteelWing said with a bow, then left the library.

Mirage looked around. "Why are we here?"

"That's just what I was going to ask you." The Author flashed a smile. "Last night, I felt something enter the Island of Froth. We came here to investigate."

"Glaucus! He disappeared last night!" the SandWing shouted. "Is he here?"

The Author's smile vanished. "Who is this Glaucus you speak of?"

"He's our clawmate," Eigengrau said. "He's a SeaWing. A royal one with the pretty swirls on his wings."

She shook her head. "We haven't found anyone yet. All we know is he took a key―a key that could potentially end up with me dead."

The SandWing and NightWing exchanged worried glances. "What does the key go to?" Eigengrau questioned.

The Author remained silent for a moment. She kept quiet for so long, Eigengrau wondered if she even heard her. Just as she was about to ask again, the Author responded.

"Let's return to Mira," she said with a serene smile. "I'm sure you two are tired. I will answer any question later."

* * *

 **Again, special thanks to my lovely betas, The Black-Hearted Angel, Queen of the Pears, and Nightflare Shine!**

 **New characters in this chapter in order of appearance:**

 **General Rhenium - black SteelWing general; serves under the Author; named after a silvery-gray metal.**

 **The Author - odd pale blue SeaWing; ruler of something, probably Mira; seems to be Princess Seafoam, but that's debatable.**

 **Princess Delta - pale blue SeaWing princess; sister to Glaucus; Platinum Winglet; named after a river splitting up as it reaches the sea.**

 **Prince Maelstrom - dark grayish-blue SeaWing prince; brother to Glaucus; Agate Winglet; named after a violent storm.**

 **Prince Charming - peacock-colored Night-RainWing; brother to Luster; Agate Winglet; named entirely because of a pun.**

 **Cobalt - vibrant dark blue SeaWing; brother to Seafoam; named after a shade of blue and a silvery metal.**

 **I hope you liked it as much as my betas did! Feel free to leave behind any ideas you have concerning where we're going next!**

 **~Shiny**


End file.
